Bee Roots for 2026-02-08

The table provides clues for the roots of words in today's NY Times Spelling Bee. You're responsible for prefixes, suffixes, tense changes, plurals, doubling consonants before suffixes, and alternate spellings of roots. An exception: since Sam won't allow S, when the root contains an S, the clue may be for a plural or suffixed form. "Mice" for example. If a clue isn't self-explanatory, try googling it. The TL;DR about the site comes after the table.

Past clues are available here

 
Today's puzzle
  • Letters: I/BELNTU
  • Words: 60
  • Points: 284
  • Pangrams: 2
Source: birdspot.co.uk

Table content

answers coveredanswer's first letteranswer's lengthclue for root (answer may need prefix, suffix, tense change, alt spelling, ...)
1B7Straight, direct course between 2 points, compound (think this puzzle’s name)
1B8Imaginary band around waist, or railway or road around a city, compound
1B5Holy book (starts with Genesis)
1B4Liver secretion, or anger
1B4Invoice, or actor Murray, noun/verb
1B6Temp soldier lodging
2B4,6Use teeth to cut into food (take a … out of the apple)
2B4,5Russian pancake
1B5Erect or assemble, verb; past tense is slang adj. for muscular, gerund and negated gerund forms are pangrams
1B8Short official statement, or news summary (pin your note to the…board), pangram
1B5Be in a horizontal resting position, or say something false
1B8Small (Stuart or Chicken …), adj.
1E9Cheerful & full of energy, pangram adj.
1E5Select group that’s superior
1E5World weariness (French)
1E7Name of a book, movie, or job, noun/verb; or a document showing you own a car or house
1I7Erect or assemble, verb; past tense is slang adj. for muscular, gerund and negated gerund forms are pangrams
1I5Concave belly button, slang
1I5Computer chip maker; or what spies collect, abbr.
1I6Determined to do (I’m … on finishing this puzzle), adj.; or objective, noun
1I6TurboTax company, or know by feeling rather than evidence
1I5Allow; rent
1I7Useful, formal adj. (think of what Batman wears on his waist)
1L7Merciful, not strict (as a judge or parent, e.g.)
1L6Bean for soup or curry
2L5,7Printed slander, noun
1L4Bank hold on a mortgaged property, NOT tilt
1L4In place of (in … of flowers), French
1L4Singsong accent
1L4A queue, what you wait in for your turn
1L5Cloth napkin fabric
1L6Mainly brown & gray finch with a reddish breast & forehead (rhymes with the type of piano I have)
1L4Dryer fluff
1L6Horiz. beam across a door or window top
1L4Low-calorie or low-fat in ad-speak (Miller … beer)
1L6Small (Stuart or Chicken …), adj.
1N6Small, tentative chew, verb; or a snack, noun
1N4Number of justices on Supreme Court
1N8One more than the number of holes on a golf course
1N4Part of the day when it’s dark, slang spelling
1N6Small bump, or small stunted ear of corn
1N6(About a young woman) old enough to marry
1T4Thin ceramic wall, counter, flooring, or roofing square
1T4Cash register or drawer, noun; “up to,” preposition; or prep soil for planting, verb
1T4Move into a sloping position, or fight windmills (… at)
1T4Fork prong
1T4Shade of color, noun; or darken car windows, verb
1T5Name of a book, movie, or job, noun/verb; or a document showing you own a car or house
1T6Dot above an i or j, or really small amount
1T5All together, musically (Italian); Little Richard “Wop bop a loo bop” song
1U7Erect or assemble, verb; past tense is slang adj. for muscular, gerund and negated gerund forms are pangrams
1U5Illumination, noun/verb (Let there be …)
1U5Fasten with string or cord, verb/noun
1U4Something whole on its own but part of larger thing (apartment, Army squad, e.g.)
1U5Bring together
1U5Up to, preposition or conjunction (You have … 5 pm to finish)
1U5Useful, formal adj. (think of what Batman wears on his waist)

About this site

This site provides clues for a day's New York Times Spelling Bee puzzle. It follows in Kevin Davis' footsteps. The original set of 4,500 clues came from him, and they still make up about three quarters of the current clue set.

The "Bee Roots" approach is to provide explicit clues for root words, not every word. As logophiles, we are pretty good at putting on prefixes and suffixes, changing tense, and forming plurals (including Latin plurals!). The clues cover root words, arranged alphabetically by root word, with a count of words in the puzzle that come from each root. For example, if a puzzle includes ROAM and ROAMING, there will be a clue for ROAM and a count of 2. The root may not appear in the puzzle at all; for example, the 2021-07-23 Bee included ICED, DEICE, and DEICED. For such a puzzle, the clue would be for ICE with a word count of 3.

The Bee Roots approach involves judgement sometimes. For example, if a puzzle includes LOVE, LOVED, and LOVELY, how many roots are needed to cover them? LOVE and LOVED share the root LOVE, certainly, but LOVELY is tricky. LOVE is part of its etymology, but by now, the word means "exquisitely beautiful," which is a lot farther from the meaning of LOVE than swithcing to past tense. I'm inclined to treat LOVE and LOVELY as separate roots. You may not agree, which is fine. Another thing we logophiles share is a LOVE of arguing about words on Twitter.

A few words can have one meaning as a suffixed form and another as a stand-alone word. EVENING, for example. In those cases I will use the meaning that I think is more common.

One last complication, until another one pops up: a few roots have multiple spellings, for example LOLLYGAG and LALLYGAG. Depending on the day's letters, and maybe even the editor's whims, one or both could be in the puzzle's answer list. With such roots, you could see a word count of 2, even if there are no applicable prefixes or suffixes.

I will do my best to keep this site up to date and helpful (I hope). Check it out, and tweet feedback to @donswartwout Tweet to @donswartwout